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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – State primaries are only about month away. This year they’ll be held on Thursday September 8th, usually they happen on a Tuesday.

“Because of the special action of legislature which moved the primary from Tuesday to Thursday because of Labor Day and also because of Muslim and Jewish holidays in the month of September and also October,” said Janina Surdyka, The registrar of voters in Chicopee.

There are only Democratic contested races here in western Massachusetts for this year’s state primaries.

For the contested races, Republicans will receive a ballot that only has one candidates name on it for each contest but they could still write a name onto that ballot. The person whose name is written in would still need to get the same amount of votes as required in nomination papers.

For independents, also known as unenrolled, they can pick either ballot when they get to the polls.

In Chicopee, 52 percent of registered voters are registered as unenrolled.

“It’s important for everyone to get out and vote no matter what their party is and while a lot of people are focusing right now on the presidential election it’s really important for people to get and vote for their local and state government and it’s important for every single person to register whether you’re a democrat or republican,” said Leah Berlin, a registered voter.

Voters have until 8:00 p.m. August 19th to register. You can also change your name, address, or affiliation by going to resgistertovotema.com